Members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 urge the
U.S. Senate to reject President Clinton's expected renomination of activist
lawyer Bill Lann Lee as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights
Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Lee's unrelenting implemention
of divisive racial preference policies while serving as "acting"
head of the Division are at odds with Supreme Court and lower court decisions.

"Bill Lann Lee's rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul policies are not only out
of step with the mainstream of the American polity, but are out of step
with the majority of the Democratic Party as well," said Project 21
member Council Nedd, the director of government affairs for Citizens Against
Government Waste.

Mr. Lee's nomination to become the nation's chief civil rights enforcer
deadlocked in the Senate Judiciary Committee in November of 1997 due to
his controversial support for race-based preferences in hiring, government
contracting, education and voting laws. President Clinton then chose to
bypass the Senate's constitutionally mandated "advise and consent"
role in the nomination process in December of 1997 by appointing Mr. Lee
as the "acting" head of the Division.

In a recently-released report evaluating Lee's tenure at the Department
of Justice, Roger Clegg of the Center for Equal Opportunity and Clint Bolick
of the Institute for Justice concluded: "Lee sides with racial classifications
in government contracting, employment, voting and education in nearly every
instance, placing the federal civil rights arsenal at odds with the U.S.
Supreme Court's repeated pronouncements that racial classifications are
presumptively impermissible... Americans should be profoundly saddened that
the Civil Rights Division under Bill Lann Lee is not primarily a force for
racial healing, but instead persistently deploys its resources to classify
and discriminate against Americans on the basis of race and ethnicity."
On February 17, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart confirmed President Clinton's
plans to renominate Mr. Lee, saying, "The President believes [Mr. Lee
has] done a very good job since assuming his role... I think the President
wants him to continue the important work he's doing, and plans to resubmit
his nomination soon."

"Racial harmony will not be achieved in this country as long as
the federal government promulgates policies that discriminate on the basis
of race," said Project 21 member and writer Sharon Hodge. "Consequently,
it is imperative that the critical post of Assistant Attorney General for
Civil Rights be filled by someone who would strive to unite the races by
supporting Supreme Court rulings and other legal precedents, which clearly
have called for an end to racial preferences. Frankly, Bill Lann Lee is
not that person."

On February 12, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
warned the White House not to renominate Mr. Lee in a letter that read,
"During Lee's tenure, the Justice Department has advocated the same
policies that initially led to his failure to be confirmed."

"President Clinton's appointment of Mr. Lee is a demonstration of
not only his disregard for the law, but for the Constitution," said
Nedd. "After 14 months, Mr. Lee is still serving in an acting role
having never been confirmed by the Senate. The fact that Mr. Lee is using
his post for his own brand of social engineering is vindication of the Senate's
right to approve his appointment."